Entrepreneurship
With 3G Internet access, people worldwide from fishermen to Internet cafe owners can benefit from specialized wireless applications that allow them to access real-time data, helping them maintain a more efficient and profitable business. Store owners can become the “payphone” of their small village, selling telephony services to their friends and neighbors; farmers can access critical weather information and market prices; and a software developer can create the next ground-breaking application.
China
In collaboration with China Unicom and the international non-governmental organization, PlaNet Finance, Qualcomm donated 2,000 CDMA2000 handsets that were pre-charged with a monthly service voucher (good for up to two years) donated by China Unicom.
India
To help support the agriculture industry and reach the rural population, Wireless Reach engaged in a pilot project with ISAP and United Villages Networks to develop vBay, a BREW-enabled mobile classifieds application for rural agri-entrepreneurs to be deployed in the villages of Orissa and Rajasthan.
Indonesia - Mobile Microfranchising
For the last four years, Wireless Reach and Grameen Foundation have collaborated with Bakrie Telecom and Ruma, a local social enterprise, to evaluate, test and build the foundation for a Mobile Microfranchise program in Indonesia.
Indonesia - Global Ready
Economically disadvantaged students in Palembang, Indonesia are now using advanced wireless technology to access IT training and gain the skills necessary to compete successfully in the modern global economy due to the Wireless Reach project, with partners SRA, Indosat, and PalComTech.
Sri Lanka
Wireless Reach has collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dialog Telekom PLC and Synergy Strategies Group on a project to support small businesses in rural Sri Lanka, as well as connect Sri Lankans to the rest of the world with high-speed Internet access.
Tanzania
In 2009, Wireless Reach with the GSMA Development Fund and Vodacom Tanzania announced a project that would bring local entrepreneurs a new business opportunity and a much needed resource to three communities throughout northern, central and eastern Tanzania – access to high-speed wireless Internet connectivity.
PlaNet Finance, Enabling Rural Innovation & Entrepreneurship
China is the world's largest cellular market with a total of 502 million mobile subscribers reported in June 2007 by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). However, the difference in wealth and wireless connectivity between the eastern coastal cities and the western countryside in China remains significant. According to MII reports, China's mobile phone penetration is just under 40 percent, though it is as high as 90 percent in some urban areas. The following Wireless Reach project aims to harness advanced wireless technology to positively contribute to the long-term development and sustainability of underserved communities in three of the country's western provinces: Shaanxi, Guizhou and Ningxia.
In collaboration with China Unicom and the international non-governmental organization, PlaNet Finance, Qualcomm donated 2,000 CDMA2000 handsets that were pre-charged with a monthly service voucher (good for up to two years) donated by China Unicom. The handsets were given to PlaNet Finance's network of microfinance workers and loan recipients. The initiative improves successful PlaNet Finance programs by providing the benefits of mobile communications to entrepreneurs.
“One of the biggest advantages of having the SMS system is knowing which commodities we should buy and when is best to buy them, like when I buy feed for my penned sheep. The prices of feed often vary widely day-to-day and by having the price sent to me by SMS it allows me to know when is the best time to buy, when I should buy more and when I should buy only what I need until the price drops.”
– Farmer from Yanchi County, Ningxia
The handset recipients are microfinance loan officers or borrowers who have successful track records and regularly participate in PlaNet Finance's training programs. China Unicom's service voucher includes a weekly SMS, which enables PlaNet Finance to provide key price and loan information to its microfinance partners and recipients. The CDMA2000 handset donation helps drive the recipients' access to markets, prevents wasted journeys and makes it easier to receive microfinance loans.
Through the Wireless Reach program, Qualcomm and China Unicom support China's overall development goals articulated by Prime Minister Wen Jiabao at the National People's Congress in March 2006.
Partners
- China Unicom
- PlaNet Finance
vBay, Real-Time Mobile Classifieds for Agri-Entrepreneurs
India’s population is roughly 1.1 billion people and more than half of the workforce is in agriculture.1 According to the Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals (ISAP), most of the agricultural population lives in rural areas with minimal access to market information. To help support the agriculture industry and reach the rural population, Wireless Reach engaged in a pilot project with ISAP and United Villages Networks to develop vBay, a BREW-enabled mobile classifieds application for rural agri-entrepreneurs to be deployed in the villages of Orissa and Rajasthan.
“vBay will empower rural entrepreneurs to broaden their villages’ access to markets, thereby increasing the affordability, accessibility and variety of products available to rural communities using BREW technology.”
– Amir Alexander Hasson, Founder and CEO, United Villages
Providing a convenient online hub for market, product and service information on mobile phones, vBay will offer entrepreneurs in rural communities the ability to post and browse across a network of villages and improve their productivity by providing daily commodity price updates in addition to job postings. This is rural India’s first mobile-enabled classified system designed to empower entrepreneurs by broadening their access to market information. Training for entrepreneurs is also part of the project, helping them to successfully grow their businesses while using the vBay system.
Partners
- Indian Society of Agribusiness Professionals
- United Villages Networks
Qualcomm Announces Collaboration to Empower Rural Markets through vBay Mobile Application
Mobile Microfanchising and Application Laboratory Initiatives Give Entrepreneurs New Tools for Success
For the last four years, Wireless Reach and Grameen Foundation have collaborated with Bakrie Telecom to evaluate, test and build the foundation for a Mobile Microfranchising Program. The initiative combines the power of microfinance with the benefits of expanding access to communications, generating broad positive economic and social returns that can bolster an entire community. The program helps Indonesians by extending affordable telecommunication access to people who cannot afford a mobile device; and by offering a profitable business opportunity to the base of the pyramid. The project demonstrates an innovative solution through a microfranchise model that is market-oriented and builds on the strength of microfinance, a leading poverty alleviation strategy. The core concept is simple, effective and sustainable: a local small-business entrepreneur purchases a pre-packaged kit that includes a mobile phone with a microfinance loan and then re-sells the “airtime minutes” to neighbors. The mobile phone then serves as a platform to provide additional applications and services to further increase their revenues and margins.
As part of the work, a local Indonesian social enterprise was incubated and now operates as the implementing partner for the Mobile Microfranchise Program in Indonesia. This social enterprise, called Ruma, supports poor micro-entrepreneurs in becoming airtime resellers and will also be adding products and services that will further increase entrepreneur incomes. Ruma packages the business kits, deploys them to the entrepreneurs, trains them in how to run the business and provides a collection service for working capital to ensure the entrepreneurs always have sufficient capital to run the business. Ruma also conducts a Progress out of Poverty Index™ survey, which measures the poverty level of a micro-entrepreneur, and tracks their income level over time.
Partners are now working together under a project called Application Laboratory, or AppLab, which delivers new and innovative wireless products, information services and business opportunities tailored to the needs of the poor and poorest and specifically designed to increase their income. Ruma helps poor micro-entrepreneurs become electronic airtime resellers and expand their businesses with new AppLab products and services that will further increase their income. In June 2011, partners launched AppLab commercially, which is stepping stone towards the sustainability of Ruma and the Mobile Microfranchise Program. AppLab helps sustain the Ruma entrepreneur network by enabling Ruma to generate more income and further invest in their social enterprise goal, which is to be sufficiently profitable to enable rapid expansion of the model to reach millions of poor people in Indonesia. The applications enable lines of business that generate revenues for the local partners and it is estimated that the applications will be self-sustaining once 20,000 entrepreneurs are in the network.
As of October 2011, the Mobile Microfranchising Program has recruited over 9,300 Ruma entrepreneurs and serves nearly 1,000,000 unique customers. An estimated 47 percent of the micro-entrepreneurs who stay in the portfolio for more than four months have moved above the poverty line, which the World Bank defines as US $2.50 per day, more than 85 percent of the businesses are owned by women and 100 percent of Ruma entrepreneurs are profitable.
Partners
- Bakrie Telecom
- Grameen Foundation
- Ruma
Wireless Reach - Indonesia Bahasa Case Study
Wireless Reach VPO / AppLab Case Study
Wireless Reach in Indonesia
Grameen Foundation, Qualcomm and Bakrie Telecom Announce Application Laboratory in Indonesia
* In economics, the base of the pyramid is the largest, but poorest socio-economic group. In global terms, this is the 2.5 billion people who live on less than US $2.50 per day according to the book, “The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid” at Warton Publishing.
Global Ready eTraining Centers Create Job Opportunities
On the island nation of Indonesia, residents of Palembang are now using today’s most advanced wireless technology to access information technology training and gain the skills necessary to compete successfully in the modern global economy. The Wireless Reach project, which took place from March 2009 to May 2010, allowed for the primary implementing partner, SRA, to design and manage a program that offered 1,000 prepaid tuition vouchers (all of which were redeemed) to economically disadvantaged students, similar to the concept of micro-scholarships. The objective of the voucher program was to stimulate interest in (and long-term demand for) technology services within middle-mile community populations to such an extent that the centers would ultimately become economically sustainable through full tuition-paying enrollment.
The Global Ready eTraining Center, as named by project partners, was developed to provide underserved, economically disadvantaged students with access to affordable high-quality IT training and professional development. A rapid, hands-on training program was designed by the Indonesian technology training company, PalComTech, to expedite participants’ ability to enter Indonesia’s professional services market and realize the economic advantages of their newly-acquired skill set. Global Ready eTraining Centers, also called Technomatics, are located in middle-mile towns, where economic resources are available to sustain them and where last-mile communities can still benefit from increased proximity to training resources. Global Ready eTraining Centers are equipped with 3G HSPA wireless technology that offers mobile Internet connectivity at broadband speeds. Each location has several classrooms; some devoted to computer/Internet training and at least one classroom devoted to training in computer/server maintenance and repair.
At the completion of the pilot phase, 95 percent of participants had successfully completed the training program and a year later 100 percent had received a new or better job. Approximately 75 percent of the graduated students report an increase in their incomes and 100 percent of the voucher holders were satisfied with the training program.
“The Technomatic courses help me with my job skills and my future promotion opportunities.” -Hendra, Gramedia Employee, Indonesia
Partner List:
- Indosat
- PalComTech
- SRA International
Global Ready eTraining Centers in Indonesia
Wireless Reach - Indonesia, Global Ready case study
Easy Seva, Encouraging Entrepreneurship and Connecting Rural Citizens
Wireless Reach has collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Dialog Telekom PLC and Synergy Strategies Group on a project to support small businesses in rural Sri Lanka, as well as connect Sri Lankans to the rest of the world with high-speed Internet access. The project partners recruited local entrepreneurs to run Internet tele-centers throughout the country called Easy Seva. The entrepreneurs were offered a microfinance loan to fund startup costs, which are relatively low due to a highly standardized, bulk-purchase package of equipment, software, content and services. Owners receive hardware, IT and business training and Internet connectivity via Dialog’s HSDPA network. At the end of the three year loan period, each entrepreneur is expected to own their Easy Seva center.
“Dialog Telekom is delighted to be a partner in the Last Mile Initiative project which demonstrates and validates the use of advanced 3G HSDPA technology to bridge information and communication divides facing rural communities. It is truly rewarding to see a cutting edge technology such as 3G HSDPA delivering socio-economic dividends where they are most needed.”
– Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya, Chief Executive, Dialog Telekom PLC
In order to participate in the project, each school involved helped with renovations needed to support a computer lab. This collaborative effort and commitment from the participating schools is improving the quality of education for students. Now they are able to enhance their studies through the use of the Internet, while connecting easily to the world around them.
Partners
- Dialog Telekom PLC
- National Development Bank
- Synergy Strategies Group
- United States Agency for International Development
Global Ready eTraining Centers in Indonesia
Wireless Reach in Sri Lanka
Creating a Communication Gateway for the Unconnected
In 2009, Wireless Reach with the GSMA Development Fund and Vodacom Tanzania announced a project that would bring local entrepreneurs a new business opportunity and a much needed resource to three communities throughout northern, central and eastern Tanzania – access to high-speed wireless Internet connectivity. Entrepreneurs take out a microfinance loan to purchase the cafes, which are housed in converted shipping containers, an environmentally friendly and affordable resource. Other Vodacom products and services are also available including: airtime vouchers, payphone calls, handset recharging services and Vodacom’s M-PESA mobile money transfer service.
“Our goals are to…expand the use of our services and empower the people of Tanzania through our technology. How do you gain knowledge? The public Internet cafe is a tool for this. Tanzanians now have access to information from anywhere in the world and it empowers them.”
– Peter Correia, Chief Operating Officer, Vodacom Tanzania
Vodacom approached the pilot with the goal of ensuring that the cafes were profitable for the local entrepreneurs who would run them. The partners chose the communities of Dar-es-Salaam, Dodoma and Arusha to test the project design and concept. These communities are diverse and aided Vodacom in testing the sustainability and profitability of the business in various locations. There is positive consensus among the three cafe owners that the strength of their business is the high-speed wireless Internet connectivity on Vodacom’s HSPA network. Vodacom found the initial pilot successful and is expanding it to include ten additional cafes throughout Tanzania.
Partners
- GSMA Development Fund
- Vodacom Tanzania
Wireless Reach in Tanzania
Vodacom, GSMA and Qualcomm Bring High-Speed Internet Cafes to Tanzania
Wireless Reach 2012 Brochure - English
